Tamashii no Tokyo Part 6 - International Warranty

Today's agenda is to go out and buy a new camera, so I walk over to Akihabara in the morning and go to the only logical choice - Yodobashi Camera. I mean its THE camera store in THE worlds greatest electronics district in THE most high-tech city in the world.

Yodobashi camera is like 7 floors of store. Just imagine 7 Target stores placed on top of each other, each devoted to one single thing. Its immense.

I get to the camera floor, and there are so many cameras here it boggles the mind. Normally when I go camera shopping I take my time and research whats the best camera for me. But this time I am flying blind, not only in a foreign country, but a whole different language.

I decided to play it safe and went with the just released Olympus SP-590UZ. I've owned two other olympus cameras, and they were awesome, and the 26x optical zoom was killer. So The salesman, who spoke little English hooked me up. Have you ever tried to ask a Japanese salesman that you want a Micro SD card instead of the SD card the camera comes with? I don't recommend it.

As I walk around I get snagged and talked into signing up for a yodobashi points card. Basically, if you buy stuff, you get points, which then you can redeem on other stuff. So I get the card, the salesman steers me to the duty free checkout (no tax) but when he sees that i have a point card he brings me to the regular Japanese checkout. Apparently tourists dont get point cards. SO I end up paying tax. Whatever.

Outside I take a few shots, and then move on to my next destination: Nakano Broadway.

Nakano Broadway is toy mecca. Second only to Akihabara and even then some would argue it. Its basically an indoor mall with several floors, most of the Mandarake stores. Every time I have been here before I have gone with other people, and I never spent the amount of time I would have liked in there, so today I decided that I was going to dedicate the rest of the day towards it.

I get off at the Nakano station and make my way down the long Sunshine City mall promenade.

I spend hours in Nakano Broadway, but I take only one picture. I think I just wanted to have the experience without having to document everything. Taking photos can be a burden sometimes. I don't think I even brought out the video camera this day. But I had a good time, and I bought some toys.

On my way out I stop at a place called Lotteria, which I had known as a chicken joint, kind of like Chick Fil-a (as opposed to KFC). But this one apparently specializes in beef, as in evidence by the sign stating "Straight Burger" Lotteria.

What, no Gay Burgers?

Anyway, I went for the Bacon Cheeseburger, which was unlike any bacon cheeseburger I have ever had.

Yeah, that's bacon.

From there I got back on the train, went to Shibuya and went to the Mandarake there, and finally saw the Hachicko statue.

Went back to the hotel and unloaded my stuff. I was meeting my friend Boris from Anime-Export for dinner.

We ended up going to all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu in one of the restaurants above Yodobashi Camera. It was awesome.

From there we went to a bar until they closed... and then Back to the hotel I went.